I Will Survive

At first I was afraid, I was petrified ... ok not quite but it was definitely not a good feeling!  Let me explain.  I contracted the flu (the seasonal one, not the swine flue) sometime last weekend and started exhibiting symptoms of this wonderful disease on Sunday afternoon.  I didn't really think anything of it at first because it started as a feeling that I had something in my throat and that I was trying to cough it out.  But after arriving home from Edmonton (where I had been all weekend) it soon became evident that I was definitely coming down with something.  I started to feel achey in my shoulders, hips and thighs which I tried to attribute to the amount of driving that I'd done in the previous 48 hours but apparently my body wasn't listening.  I decided that maybe a soothing shower would help so I asked Jay to start one for me while I went to grab my towels from my bathroom.  By the time I got back (we don't have a huge house so this took about 30-45 seconds) I was shivering so bad my teeth were chattering.  So I called my fabulous older sister to see if she knew anything about the flu and being pregnant, and of course she did.  But being the eternal optimist that I somehow have morphed into, I procrastinated getting any of the stuff she recommended until Monday morning as I hoped against hope that I did not have the flu.

But Monday morning finally showed up (I say finally because I had been awake for pretty much the entire night sweating, coughing, aching and peeing because I was trying to stay hydrated ... it's a vicious cycle) and it was decided that I was entirely too sick to go to work.  So my wonderful hubby stayed home as well to play nurse for me and was sent on his first assignment to get the Tylenol, thermometer, Gatorade and soup that I'd been advised to get the night before and had not.  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful and passed with me sleeping/lounging on the couch while Jay got me whatever I requested.  And then Tuesday decided to rear it's ugly head.  I woke up feeling slightly better than on Monday as I had actually slept fairly well on Monday night, and after a shower I was feeling fairly human so I decided to head back to work.  BIG MISTAKE.  By the end of work on Tuesday I was physically drained of any energy I thought I'd had that morning, and the cough was back with a vengence that made my lungs and body ache as well as making my throat raw.  The cough also decided it should bring it's little friend the stuffy/runny nose with it.  Apparently the cough did not get the memo that it was not actually invited to this party and definitely shouldn't be inviting friends.  So Tuesday night was passed with me attempting to sleep in the lazy boy because I thought sleeping upright might help as I was unable to accomplish this feat in a normal horizontal position after more than 3 hours of trying.  But it did not help.  And it also caused more problems as I was aware that the baby was not moving much at all.  We now had a combination of sick, exhausted, hormonal Alisha and were now adding panic into the mix.  Not a good situation.  So Jay drove me to the ER Wednesday morning where I was informed that 1. I had to wear a surgical mask so I didn't infect anyone else; 2. I was not running a fever (which I already knew because I'd taken my temperature before we left the house); 3. my pulse and oxygen levels were great (yay me); and last but not least 4. even though the rest of the hospital doesn't want the unclean masses (ie those who have the flu) walking about, they were still going to send me up to the delivery suite to check the baby out since I'd had decreased fetal movement.  Thanks for all your help ER nurse lady.

Upon arrival at the delivery suite, I had to explain again to the nurse why I was there, but we were then escorted to a room where I was hooked up to some fetal monitors to make sure everything was ok.  By this point I was a mess and was crying.  The nurse was like "Is it just 'cuz you're feeling so horrible that you're crying?"  I was thinking, "Doesn't everyone cry when they are here?" but Jay pointed out later that she was probably just making sure I didn't have any other pain or anything to worry about.  It's a good thing one of us was level-headed.  But it turned out that everything was fine with the baby.  His lack of movement was probably caused by the fact that I wasn't feeling well and had been living on soup for the last few days which although delicious doesn't really contain a lot of carbs and stuff to make him feel like shaking his groove thing on the dance floor.  However, I did score my very own set of fetal monitoring bands which I was instructed to bring back with me for delivery or if I have to go back for decreased fetal movement again, so it was not a complete waste.  And I had my mind put at ease which is also good.  But the day was not over yet.  I also had to go see my regular doctor to get checked out for my flu symptoms, so we headed over there where I had to sit in the "special" waiting area for the infected until she could see me.  It was a good thing that we know one of the nurses that works there because she was able to get my appointment pushed up so we didn't have to wait for a year and a half to get in.  But I ended up with the same news ... it's the flu, so stay home from work, avoid crowds and company, continue on my liquid diet and get plenty of rest.

Which I did for the rest of Wednesday.  And all of Thursday except for the few hours when I had my first appointment with my OB.  It went well and he seems to know what he's doing (I'm just kidding, I've heard he's really good from a bunch of people).  He also informed me that as soon as I'm feeling better I should go get both flu shots because as a preggo my immune system is decreased making me more susceptible to both strains.  So I will add that to my list of things to do for next week. 

And that brings us to today.  I actually slept all night!  It was fabulous.  I think I might actually be getting over this thing 'cuz my nose is hardly stuffed/runny anymore, when I cough it doesn't make my lungs ache and my throat feel like it's being stabbed from the inside, I've only had 3 mugs of hot lemon water with honey so far (which is a definite improvement since I think I was at about 10 by this time yesterday), and I actually had the energy to wash my bedding today.  Don't worry, I took it easy and watched my recorded episodes of Grey's and Private Practice in between loads.  Besides, since I'm starting to feel better, I figured it was time to remedy my germ infested pillow cases, etc.  And I actually had something other than soup today ... I had 2 bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for lunch today which definitely made the baby happy.  Yay for the return of my appetite, however small it is at this point!

That's about all, I guess, and although I felt like it was never going to end earlier in the week I think it's safe to say at this point that I will survive as this too shall pass! (And apprently I am capable of stretching "I have the flu" into the longest post ever.)

Ranting

First of all, I would like to say that Mother Nature needs to get on some medication or something because these drastic weather changes are starting to get really old.  3 weeks ago we had plus 34 C as a high and this morning we had at least 5 cm of snow/slush on top of icey roads!  And then I heard on the radio this morning that they're forecasting plus 20 C for a high on Saturday.  Honestly!

This brings about my second point I would like to rant about.  I almost hit a pedestrian this morning and it totally wouldn't have been my fault!  I'm driving about 30 km/hr, which is odd for me but was necessary because of the aforementioned road conditions, when a boy aged approximately 16-17 years old pushes the pedestrian crossing button and immediately starts walking across the street!  I would like to point out that my proximity to the intersection was such that even if there had been dry roads I would have had to slam on my breaks and most likely would have left some rubber behind me, but combined with the icky road my Jeep turned into a giant sled.  Now I did exercise the whole break pumping thing and also threw it into neutral (which is apparently supposed to help because then your drivetrain isn't still trying to move forward while you are trying to stop), but I was super lucky that there was no one in the left lane as I had to slide my way into that lane to avoid hitting this Braindead Specimen of Adolescence!  Oh, and while I am yelling at this teenager (which he didn't hear since my windows were rolled up) he keeps giving me dirty looks like "Hello!  The lights are flashing so I can walk.  Why aren't you stopping?"  Needless to say, I was not super impressed, and neither was Jay.  I know that drivers need time to adjust to winter driving conditions, but is it too much to ask for pedestrians to pay attention as well?

So after dropping Jay off at work and making it back into town unscathed I had a pre-natal appointment with my General Practitioner.  I arrived at the clinic at 9:40 am on the nose which is when my appointment was scheduled for.  I checked in and entered the waiting room with all the coughing, sneezing, masses and assumed the "I will be patient" facade.  After 1/2 hour in the waiting room I checked with the receptionist to see if she had any idea how far behind my doctor was running today as she is chronically running late ... even when I'm the first appointment of the day like today!  She said unfortunately not but I was the next person to be taken back for her.  At this point I pulled out the "I'm pregnant" card and played it with no qualms.  "Is there any way I can do my urine sample now?  I will come back out and wait to see the doctor, but I've already been waiting for 1/2 hour and this baby is sitting on my bladder and I'm going to explode soon."  Thankfully she took pity on me, procured the magical cup from the lab for me and all was well with my world again.  (On a side note, apparently this is the only clinic in the universe where they don't take your urine sample as soon as you get there.  3 other people I've talked to said "At my doctor they check you in and have you pee right away so you're not dying in the waiting room.")  Anyways.  So at 1 hour from when my appointment was supposed to be I again approach the receptionists to see if I will ever be seeing my doctor today.  (I mean it's not like I have a job or anything like that.  I just have all day to sit around waiting to see my doctor!)  At this question, 2 receptionists chuckle and give me the knowing smile as they recognize me since I've been there multiple times for pre-natals over the last 7 months.  However, before they can check for me, I am finally called to the back at which point I explain that I have already left my urine sample for them as I have been through this whole process a few times before.  So we move on to taking my weight and blood pressure and then on to the Holy Grail ... the actual doctor's office.  At this point I think I may have entered the Twilight Zone because my doctor was actually in the room when I get there as opposed to me having to wait for an additional 15-20 minutes for her to arrive like usual.  So she checks the height of my uterus and informs me that this is going to be a big baby, and then  checks for the baby's heart beat which is all good.  She then asks if I've heard anything from the OB that she referred me to a week and a half ago, to which I reply "No.  I actually was going to ask you if I should check with them."  But apparently I have nothing to worry about since I've had no problems with my pregnancy and should just continue to wait.  So if I haven't heard anything by Friday I will be contacting said OB's office to make sure they have the referral letter.  Long story short: I waited for about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a 10 minute pre-natal appointment.  I think this is ridiculous and am really glad that this was my last pre-natal with her.  If I don't get into the OB for some reason I have now reached the point where I don't care and plan to go to the hospital when I'm in labour and inquire, "Is there anyone here qualified to deliver a baby?  If so could you please help me?"  And once the baby is born I plan to find a different doctor because as you can probably tell, my current one is driving me crazy!

Sorry about the super long rant, but I feel much better now that I have it out of my system.  And to make it slightly better, here are the newest belly pictures.  These were taken on Sunday, so I'm 29 1/2 weeks although I reached 30 weeks officially today.

Surprises!

Our alarm went off this morning and both Jay and I layed there as we normally do to listen to the weather before getting out of bed.  After hearing the report, I sat up and saw Maggie laying at the end of the bed.  She leaned back toward me, exposing her throat so I could rub it, which I started to do.  Then, surprise!  She puked on my arm, the douvet, my body pillow, my quilt from Mom and the sheets.  It was definitely not the ideal way I wanted to start my day!  But I got the douvet through the wash and the sheets in the wash before we left for work so things were looking up.

Work was pretty blah and I had another Doctor appointment.  I'm not entirely sure why I needed to be there since I just had a prenatal appointment on Tuesday.  My GP isn't delivering the baby so she was referring me to an obstetrician.  Basically all I did was sit there while she copied some test results into a form and then typed up a referral letter.  I'm pretty sure this could have been done when I was there on Tuesday, or without my help at all.  I was definitely not super impressed that I had to miss an hour of work for this.

But, work finally ended, and I headed home where I found a most excellent surprise.  Apparently my wonderful husband got done work early today, so he phoned his mom and told her that they were going to go crib shopping (which is what the 3 of us were supposed to do tomorrow).  They made an executive decision and bought a crib, brought it to the house, and then cleaned out the baby room!  It's so awesome, 'cuz now all that needs to be moved out is my eliptical, the gun case and the treadmill.  Then we can take down the wallpaper, paint, clean the carpet and start setting up the baby room.  Hopefully we get it done before he decides to make an appearance!  But at least we know Baby Boy won't have to sleep in my sock drawer when he arrives!  And now I don't have anything to do tomorrow other than laundry!  Maybe I will finally be able to get caught up on the So You Think You Can Dance episodes I have recorded!

This is the crib we got, but withouth the bedding.

It converts into a toddler bed, day bed and then a full size bed.  Love it!